Sunday, April 13, 2014

DIY: Make Your Own Sunburst Mirror

Every Sunday, my sister and I run the same errands almost religiously. Target, which I’m sure y’all have noticed I have a real affinity for, is one of our regular stops. We always enter with a short list of a few necessary items, but end up with a cart filled with so-not-necessary treasures. Before making it up to the check out line, our practicality usually gets the best of us and we end up putting back most of the “un-necessaries” we put in. One item in particular that always nags at me are those pretty sunburst wall mirrors. I’ve wanted one for a loooong time now, but I can’t ever seem to convince myself that they are worth that $30+ price tag. When I found myself face to face with the same sparkling set once again, I decided I’d had enough. I challenged myself right there while holding a box of Q-tips and a family pack of toothpaste: Make it myself and put an end to this madness once and for all. Then I took it even further ( I really live on the edge ) by challenging myself to create my own sparkling sunburst mirror for under $10.

*Spoiler alert: I smashed this challenge.

Here is what you will need:

One round mirror

One Styrofoam round

15-20 Popsicle sticks

Gold spraypaint

Glue gun

Painters tape

I found the mirror, Popsicle sticks and Styrofoam round at the dollar store. I already had gold spraypaint, painters tape, and a glue gun but you can get all of these items at any craft store.

Start by taping off the mirror with your painters tape, and then spray paint the edges with your gold paint. Set aside to let dry completely. You may need to spray more than one coat to get a solid gold color.

Next, you will want to spray paint your pop sticks. I laid them out on a

paper bag, sprayed one coat and then let them dry before spraying a second coat.

I only sprayed one side because I didn’t see any point in spraying the back and wasting paint.

After both the mirror and the sticks were dry, I carefully removed the painters tape from the mirror.

Using my hot glue gun, I fastened the Styrofoam round to the back of the mirror.

Set this aside a few minutes to dry before continuing to the next step.

Once the Styrofoam round is securely fastened to the gold mirror, you will want to assemble your pop sticks. You will want to alternate longer and shorter pieces to achieve the sunburst look. Cut about half an inch off the end of every other stick and arrange them on the table.

Now for the only sort-of tricky part of this diy. You will need to push the sticks into the Styrofoam round, being careful not to break the round. If you do, don’t fret, you can just glue the piece back on. Accomplishing this was simple, but you need to work carefully. Start by pushing in the longer pieces, each about an inch apart, all the way around.

Once you are done with that step, it should look like this:

Now you will finish it up by sticking the shorter pieces in between what you have already completed. I found that some of the shorter pieces sat loosely, so I fastened them in with a little hot glue. No biggie. Now you’re all done! Since I already had the spray paint and hot glue gun, this project cost me a total of $3!!!!! Tell me that isn’t awesome.